[V8] Stuff for your '91 V8

[Andrew Ness]

Hi Roger, thanks for the reply.  I understand all of your points but I've already tasted the forbidden fruit so to speak on suspensions and headlights.  My current daily driver is an RS2d '95 S6 that's lowered and it does just fine around here (save for the noise the 2bennett camber plates make).  The good thing about aftermarket H&R springs is the drop is not too drastic and the loss of suspension travel can be compensated for with better shocks/struts.  In fact, I liked the ride more in my S6 after I installed the new suspension.

On the headlight issue, it's hard to not want the e-code lights after having them on all of my cars.  RS2 lights were my first addition to my old 90, and I've noticed the low beams are even worse on the V8 (Not sure if it just came with cheap bulbs).  I don't plan on spending that much money for them, but I do plan on acquiring some in the near future. 

I do need to think about the brakes.  I was trying to be proactive, but I think I won't change them until I get bigger wheels.  Just like the e-code lights, big brakes are almost a must.  The 928GTS calipers on my S6 was one of the best upgrades I have done to a car, and the V8 needs them even more!

The whole timing belt shebang was done at 109k and it sits at 142k now.  Are there any write ups on the V8 timing belt?  I hear it's a nightmare in the wallet and in knuckle skin.  What about timing belt kits?  Is blaufergnugen the best place to get it?  $1000 for the kit and tool rental is a lot of cash!

Very helpful community here.  I've had a bunch of direct e-mails and thank everyone for the feedback!

Hope everyone has a great Easter weekend.

Andrew

From: rmwoodbury at fairpoint.net
To: andrewjness at hotmail.com
CC: V8 at audifans.com
Subject: Stuff for your '91 V8
Date: Thu, 28 Mar 2013 10:46:45 -0400





I’ll add my two cents worth here regarding lights, brakes and 
lowering.  Simply put:  don’t do it.
 
There are a lot of other folks on this list who have far more mechanical 
knowledge about the items on your list so I will keep silent there, but as far 
as the three items above, here are my thoughts:
 
1. Do not. Repeat DO NOT lower the car.  You will not gain anything 
except for a whole bunch of other problems unless you are driving ONLY on 
extremely smooth road surfaces....New Mexico and Arizona come to mind, but 
certainly not most of the southern California or Texas that I have seen.  
These cars were designed carefully to ride and handle pretty well, and messing 
with suspensions will give you limitations elsewhere.  You’re in 
Washington?  If you lower, lotsa luck!
 
2. Headlights.  I have had one V8 with Euro headlights and now two 
without.  By far the very best lighting imaginable is with properly wired 
and relayed European headlights.  Last year I was having the chin replaced 
on my ‘90 V8 after it very gently slid into a frozen ice back on water slicked 
ice. I figured “while we’re in there we might as well change out the 
lights.”  (Here in Maine, when I drive at night, most times it is severely 
black dark, and the Euro’s are almost....almost mandatory for survival against 
Bambi and his herd, among others.).  In the end, I gave up the search for a 
decent used set, and the only new ones I found were through a Canadian company 
who imports them.  $1100 plus shipping for the new headlights.  Not 
happening because I really don’t drive that much at night any more.  I did 
have the wrench install relays for both high and low beams on both sides and the 
illumination of my high beams is really pretty good...NOT as good as Euros, but 
much better for my purposes than dropping what would end up being about $1400 
for the lights, shipping and installation of new Euros.
 
If you don’t drive a LOT in really deep, dark, save your money for other 
maintenance.
 
3.  Brakes.  The UFOs were chosen for this car because the brake 
swept area was quite a lot greater than using any other form of disc brakes that 
would fit inside the 15” wheels.  I bought my ‘90 V8 when it had just 
60,000 miles a few years ago. The brakes were the original UFOs and both front 
and rear brakes were close to needing to be replaced.  I own one UFO brake 
rebuilding kit, and I was concerned that the calipers might not be usable 
without rebuilding since one appeared to be seeping fluid.  I looked hard 
into alternatives, and found that the only way I could maintain the braking 
power of the UFO’s without using them would be to change wheels and use 
something like Porsche Boxter calipers and A8 rotors. There are a lot of 
different ways to  approach the problem, but it seems that all of them 
involve going to 16” wheels or larger.  Once you add up the cost of making 
the brake system change and changing the wheels the cost of new UFO’s becomes 
relatively minor.  In the end, I did not need to replace OR rebuild my 
calipers and we just installed new UFO rotors.  The parts were not terribly 
expensive as I recall.  At some point in time I suppose UFO rotors may not 
be available anywhere.  If and when that happens, some other decision may 
be necessary.  My recommendation to you is to think very hard about what 
you might give up by changing the brakes to a convention disc system that will 
fit inside those 15” wheels.  If you have the dough to change everything, 
then that will be a different story, but your comment was about “costly” 
UFO’s.  
 
One other thing I am picky about and that is the offset of the 
wheels.  The V8 wheels have a different offset than the A6 or any other 
Audi.  I don’t know enough about steering geometry and suspension 
engineering to want to mess with offsets, even though I understand the 
difference between ET35 and ET40 is small.  When I was searching for 
alternative wheels for the car, supposing that I would need to change the front 
brakes, I found very few wheels available in the correct offset for the V8, and 
those I did find were exceedingly expensive.  yes, it is possible to have 
wheels custom made to whatever offset you want, and I shudder to think about the 
cost of that kind of work.  I am sure BBS and Fiske can do it.  Again, 
it’s dependent on the depth of  your wallet.
 
Those are my comments, aside from one other.  I recommend highly that 
you change the timing belt, water pump and assorted rollers RIGHT NOW.  
Yeah, yeah, I know most seller always have “just done all of that”, but if it 
were me, I would want to have the car completely serviced first, and establish a 
list of things that were found during service to add to the list you have so you 
can proceed in an orderly manner to make it right and to your standards.  
These cars can dish up wild surprises with no warning, but if you can get ahead 
of them and stay there, they are wonderful cars.  
 
My wife and I went to Bangor yesterday.  Mostly open road an a short 
stretch of interstate.  little to no traffic with light rain and drizzle 
and the car was wonderful all 85 miles of the trip!  Perfect.
 
Best of luck,
 
Roger